Interviews

“Jamaica needs to be cleaned from the bottom to the top” When Sicilian singer, deejay, producer and multi-instrumentalist “roots renaissance man” Alborosie burst out with a slew of peerlessly consistent singles in 2006, it seemed like an unstoppable reggae force had … Continue reading →

  Read and listen on Reggaeville to part 2 [click here to read part 1] of our interview and music lesson with Chinna at his yard where he takes us from the end of the 1970s through to today.   When … Continue reading →

The lead guitar is not considered to be one of the core instruments of reggae. It rests gently like a garnish on top of the foundation of the drum and the bass. Yet guitarist Earl Chinna Smith is among the core … Continue reading →

Anthony Senior is the founder of Al.Ta.Fa.An Records – main producer of Luciano’s latest album Qabalah Man. Reggaeville met up with Senior at Luciano’s house in Kingston to tell us his story. How did you get into producing? I started out by sitting … Continue reading →

Life has thrown its fair share of challenges at Jacob Williams aka Gappy Ranks. Music lifted him from a onetime homeless youth from Harlesden, London, to a local success story. Then he had to fight for international acceptance while shouldering … Continue reading →

“As a kid I used to love singing more than deejaying” The last few years have been unusually quiet for stentorian voiced Bobo Ashanti deejay Capleton. His most recent two albums, distributed by VP – early precursors of the trend for … Continue reading →

Harmony is key to the story of the Mighty Diamonds. The harmony between three friends: Donald “Tabby” Shaw, Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson and Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson who formed a trio in 1969 and have continued with the same line-up to this day. The … Continue reading →

“I was the first man who knew U Roy and Tubbys” Winston “Niney” Holness was in many ways the early 1970s’ quintessential reggae “personality producer”. He may not be as well recognised by the more general music dipper as his … Continue reading →

This is an old piece published in Woofah magazine issue 4 in 2010 but written in 2008 to mark 25 years since the death of Michael Smith. *Note 2021 – I have made a small alteration in italics to one … Continue reading →

Lutan Fyah has just released his tenth studio album Life Of A King. Combining roots reggae with conscious hip hop, gospel, rave music and rock, we think it’s one of the best of his career. Reggaeville spoke to Lutan and … Continue reading →